Transcript

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>> President Donald Trump's abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday sending shock waves through Washington, raising immediate questions about the motives behind the sudden dismissal. In the letter released by the White House, Trump saying that he was no longer able to effectively lead the agency. With Trump thanking Comey for telling him that he was not personally a target of the FBI's investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia.

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Attorney General Jefferson Sessions recommending the dismissal, saying Comey should be removed for mishandling the probe into Hillary Clinton's emails as Secretary of State. Orange Strobel is on the story in Washington.>> First of all a lot of people are questioning the rationale of the White House has put out, because ultimately, many people, certainly Hilary Clinton herself, but a lot of other people believed that Comey's actions during the election hurt Hillary Clinton, especially in re-announcing the investigation 11 days before the election.

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It actually hurt her chances to become president. So why would the President now fire Comey in May? Most, if not all Democratic lawmakers this evening, and even some Republicans questioned the timing of this, and wondering it is indeed an effort to stop, block, slow, curb, blunt, the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential Election, and possible collusion between Russian officials, Russian personalities, and people associated with the Trump campaign.

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>> I told the President, Mr. President, with all due respect, you are making a big mistake.>> Democratic Senate Leader, Charles Schumer, saying a special prosecutor now needed to handle the investigation to ensure Trump officials won't interfere saying, otherwise, Americans will suspect the firing was part of a cover-up.

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Senator Patrick Leahy calling the action nothing less than Nixonian, or calling President Richard Nixon's firing of a special prosecutor during the Watergate investigation.>> This obviously throws a big question mark now over what the FBI will do.>> Republicans like Senator Richard Burr and John McCain blasting the move as well, but others in the party supporting the decision.

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Senator Lindsey Graham saying that after the controversy surrounding the director, that a fresh start would serve the FBI and the nation well. The firing coming shortly after Comey appeared before the Senate to defend his investigation of Clinton's emails saying, he wasn't comfortable with the political implications of the probe.

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>> It makes me mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election. But honestly, it wouldn't change the decision.>> The 56-year-old Comey was appointed in the position in 2013 by then President, Barack Obama, he was due to stay in office until 2023.

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But Presidents have the power to fire FBI directors if they wish, and the move by Trump is not entirely unprecedented. President Bill Clinton fired FBI Director, William Session, in 1993, and made allegations of ethical improprieties.